Who You Are and What You Should Get

I was an android user for 6 years since Cupcake version, going through each version in mostly high end phones. I change ROMS almost every other month and decided to jump ship to Windows Phone 6 months ago. My long time girlfriend owns an iPhone and therefore my evaluation of iPhone might be a bit off.

I love Windows Phone a lot, while at the same time I do miss a few important features in Android. iPhone remains the one I love to try but not with that kind of price.

Why did I create this thread?

Some might consider this as a useless thread, while some might be interested to discuss it with me. However if you look carefully, you might realize some OS is more suitable to a certain group of people than others. A lot of haters just bashed Android/iOS without considering other people's circumstances or perhaps based their experience on older android version. I hope this thread might be able to help you with that.
I would also like to counter some public opinions which from my perception is not true.

Let's start :

Windows

Who should get this:

People who uses smartphone as a phone

People who want a camera phone (high end lumia)

People with tight budget

People who dont play much with their phone

Public perception:Apps gap is closing:
Don't let this fool you. Only a few apps are of high quality while most apps are rubbish. WP UI is unique:
All OS UI are unique. Android with widgets, iPhone with icons and Windows with tiles.

Android

Who should get this:

Geeks... I mean, tech savvy people

Customizer

People who care about what they pay should correspond to the specs

Google service users

Public perception:Lag:
No, it is not as laggy as you thought it is, but you do need a high end phone for android to perform admirablyData Mining:
Unfortunately everywhere you go, it's all about data mining. I work as a campaign analyst/reporting and web analytics. So yeah, everything about you is recorded (retail, insurance, telco, etc)

iOS

Who should get this:

People with some extra income to spend on a smartphone

People who can't live without apps, and I mean high quality apps

Designers

People who just want a phone which just works

A point-and-click shooters

Public perception:Expensive:
This is wrong, it's actually VERY expensive for a smartphone Boring:
This is a preference, try it and see if it suits you better

The above are just my 2 cents. I might be wrong or so but I'm interested to know if you guys have a different opinion

Well I guess I always knew that Android wasn't laggy on the high-end devices, at least not in the beginning, but towards the end of it's lifetime, which could be a very short lifetime due to over-use, it does tend to lag. However that could be said for all phones, I guess. But WP has one true unique angle: sand-boxing of the apps. This puts them on the "safe" side and it's one of the reasons why I choose this OS above all others

My concerns with Android are glitches and app conflicts, such as I experienced with Dolphin browser and Samsung's tablet UI both using right swipe menus. I am not sure whether this concern is valid or not but the AT&T representative I spoke to, who owns an LG G3, said Android isn't quite as glitch free as iPhone.

Well I guess I always knew that Android wasn't laggy on the high-end devices, at least not in the beginning, but towards the end of it's lifetime, which could be a very short lifetime due to over-use, it does tend to lag. However that could be said for all phones, I guess. But WP has one true unique angle: sand-boxing of the apps. This puts them on the "safe" side and it's one of the reasons why I choose this OS above all others

Yes i have to say most phones are like that when it's been used for around one year. Even PC and Mac will start slowing down after two years.

My last Galaxy Note was still running perfectly fine thought fore more than 2 years. I believe that might be due to the fact that I flashed it a lot. So a lot of reformatting happened.

I dont know about sandboxing but I chose WP because i thought it would be more interesting compared to other mature OS. Turns out it is more frustrating due to Microsoft doesn't put that much effort to this OS.

At least with Android last time, it was interesting due to Google putting a lot of effort into the development.

My concerns with Android are glitches and app conflicts, such as I experienced with Dolphin browser and Samsung's tablet UI both using right swipe menus. I am not sure whether this concern is valid or not but the AT&T representative I spoke to, who owns an LG G3, said Android isn't quite as glitch free as iPhone.

Indeed. Android tends to let developers express their feature although it conflicts with other apps. You will realize most ios apps don't have that kind of freedom due to strict control. I guess you can only pick one, creativity or control.

To OP, that is a very good and accurate comparison. I've used all three and personally, I'm in the geek/customizer category and just started using Android and love what I can do with it. But, it can be confusing with all the options and menus.

We have two iPhones in the hose and I find them boring and not much fun.

Like you I've used Android for ages, with CM ROM's etc but fell out of love with them due to lags (yes even on high end devices) and the habit of freezing, having to reboot and generally being a pain.

I switched to WP for a change with a 630, which I loved apart from the hardware (a cheap phone!), so I got a 930, which I love the hardware and software.
The apps are a mixed bag, some are very good others not so, but there are not many apps which are on IOS/Android which don't have a WP version or a good alternative. Apart from banking apps.....grrrr

- Teenage girls obsessed with social media, young singles, the same types who's biggest concern is that their purse have a "Michael Kors" logo, or that they only wear Ray-Bans and clothes with the right designer label. These are the ones who go for iPhones. They will only ever have an iPhone, and it has to be the newest shiny one. Unless the mass media shows the celebrities they worship using something else.

- Young men who are tech obsessed, or think they are l33t hax0rz, want an Android. Or a jailbroken iPhone with lots of tweaks and pirated games.

- People who root for the underdog, Windows Phone is perfect for those. We feel neglected and underappreciated, and determined to right the wrongs of the world. (I also have a bumper sticker on my car "Ron Paul was right")

"People who root for the underdog" lol. However there are a lot of IT "experts" with WP. Funny enough some people seem to think that buying a WP would be a waste of time if you don't have W8.... I pity them lol

To OP, that is a very good and accurate comparison. I've used all three and personally, I'm in the geek/customizer category and just started using Android and love what I can do with it. But, it can be confusing with all the options and menus.

That's what I see as well. Not many people will want to dig into android settings and see how confusing it is. That's why only the tech savvy people will understand about it mostly

Originally Posted by eusty

I kind of agree with the OP.

We have two iPhones in the hose and I find them boring and not much fun.

Like you I've used Android for ages, with CM ROM's etc but fell out of love with them due to lags (yes even on high end devices) and the habit of freezing, having to reboot and generally being a pain.

I switched to WP for a change with a 630, which I loved apart from the hardware (a cheap phone!), so I got a 930, which I love the hardware and software.
The apps are a mixed bag, some are very good others not so, but there are not many apps which are on IOS/Android which don't have a WP version or a good alternative. Apart from banking apps.....grrrr

I quit android when it was on kitkat (4.3) and it's butter smooth. I was using Note 2 back then. However the phone was ugly and I have always been a fan of Nokia build. Would love to get 930 next year (Im using 1020 now)

To be honest, my most used apps are fine (whatsapp, Here, emails). Others are just below standard. But it did make me spend less time on my phone, which ironically... a good thing

- Teenage girls obsessed with social media, young singles, the same types who's biggest concern is that their purse have a "Michael Kors" logo, or that they only wear Ray-Bans and clothes with the right designer label. These are the ones who go for iPhones. They will only ever have an iPhone, and it has to be the newest shiny one. Unless the mass media shows the celebrities they worship using something else.

- Young men who are tech obsessed, or think they are l33t hax0rz, want an Android. Or a jailbroken iPhone with lots of tweaks and pirated games.

- People who root for the underdog, Windows Phone is perfect for those. We feel neglected and underappreciated, and determined to right the wrongs of the world. (I also have a bumper sticker on my car "Ron Paul was right")

Originally Posted by ven07

"People who root for the underdog" lol. However there are a lot of IT "experts" with WP. Funny enough some people seem to think that buying a WP would be a waste of time if you don't have W8.... I pity them lol

LOL at that as well.. but that's kinda true. The feeling of having a different phone compares to others, and see how it is starting to mature. Just like how I experienced it with android.
Sadly, Microsoft does not seem to put a lot of efforts into windows phone and its apps compare to what Google did with android.

my views, people who sit in starbucks writing the "next great screeplay" (so they think), and just want to be seen as a hipster have apple products.

People with tape in the middle of their glasses and pocket protectors have android.

People who travel, want to take amazing photos on the fly, want a serious OS that performs, has the major apps, actually makes a phone call, and does not care about specs, but cares about full user experience gravitate to WIN.